


Surviving Satirical Situations

by rpshoodini



Category: Joker Game (Anime)
Genre: Am I The Only One Who Likes Seeing The Interaction Between These Two?, Gen, Mentions of Greek myths and epics, Right after Episode 12, Yuuki is a good boss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-01
Updated: 2016-07-01
Packaged: 2018-07-19 09:50:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7356184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rpshoodini/pseuds/rpshoodini
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Lt. Col Yuuki appears to him during his private time, Miyoshi can't help but wonder about the spymaster's true intention of coming very late in midnight. He surely isn't just up for a fun small chat, is he?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Surviving Satirical Situations

**Author's Note:**

> Were they in the same age, I bet Miyoshi and Chuusa would've became best buddies (look at their lady-killer smirks).

Their whole spy training lessons had caused the spies in D Agency completely alert 24/7, even at times when they didn’t mean to. It was part of Yuuki’s curriculum–Be wary of anything suspicious, be ready for anything unexpected–which later proved itself to be helpful though, since most of their missions basically turned out to be about dealing with unexpected things to the point they were almost expectingto face the unexpected everytime they received a new order from the spymaster.

The slightest noise could get the spies all tensed up (and ready to knock unconscious a man or five), but Miyoshi especially was pretty high-strung to begin with.

Therefore when he heard footsteps coming from the upper story of the Greater East Asia Cultural Society building, he couldn’t help but flinched a little; thus barely had time to regain his composure when Lieutenant Colonel Yuuki entered the cigarsmoke-filled pantry he was in. He tried his best showing a nonchalant front, because one, Miyoshi would never wish to disappoint his boss; and two, it would be just pure embarrassing.

“Quite late to be up and about, isn’t it, Miyoshi?” The spymaster’s voice boomed through eerie but healing silence of midnight. He didn’t even bother to reveal his presence properly beforehand.

The uncharacteristically loud footsteps from before were intentional, then. This sneaky old man.

“Yuuki-san,” Miyoshi greeted, all military honorifics went out of the window, expression unreadable if not for his glinting eyes. “I simply thought I could please myself with this subtle atmosphere for once in while.”

Yuuki limped across the pantry instead of answering right away, towards the table where Miyoshi was seated. His signature cane was firmly grasped under his gloved, non-artificial hand, and made a distinct sound everytime it clashed with the floor. Each collision seemed to break the silence more and more. “Is that so.”

The narcissist shrugged. “Such a rare occurence for you to be here as well, Yuuki-san.”

In return, Yuuki smirked; the kind of smirk that would surely make people believe about his spying legacy decades ago. “You had a meeting with Odagiri earlier today,” he spoke as he faced his protégé. It clearly wasn’t a question–It was a statement. A challenge, perhaps.

“Yes… I did.”

“I had never given the order to meet him, after you gave the information you had obtained at the embassy.”

“I did it by my own will.”

“And I believe you had a good reason for that.”

Miyoshi twirled a cigarette between his fingers, letting out a quiet sneer. Awesomely busted. “Personally, I just wanted to see how Odagiri fares,” he admitted, eyelids closing in a casual manner. “It was almost fascinating that he missed a factor without even realizing he had been missing it in the first place. As if he was distracted, lured by another thing–or his own ego.”

The lieutenant colonel hummed in silent approval. “Then what do you think?”

“Odagiri has a lot of potential within him. Although there is unmistakably a wall between him and us, he isn’t as blind as not foreseeing a logical conclusion; once his head is cleared,” Miyoshi tilted his head. “Which, I suppose, is also the very reason why you brought him here?”

Yuuki had always known Miyoshi to be sharp. His smirk grew wider. “As much as your previous statement was true,” he said, “actually I’d rather hear your opinion on the whole situation, not Odagiri’s alone. I assume you had long grown an amount of interest in this type of matter.”

Miyoshi blinked, caught off-guard for a split second. He calmed down after a while, expression more hostile this time. “What do you mean, Yuuki-san?”

“Let’s say, didn’t Odagiri remind you of a certain liason from the military?”

Then it clicked. Last spring, Colonel Mutou sent to the D Agency a first lieutenant, Sakuma, as their liason. Sakuma later entrapped himself in an case that involved an American spy named Gordon, photos of cipher codes, and a harakiri show (Miyoshi proudly called that part brilliant product of his own creativity). The mission itself wasn’t so important neither did it affect D Agency much; but the narcissist insisted to see how Sakuma reacts at the harsh reality of Japan.

“Sakuma-san did make me change my view on him, but Odagiri and Lieutenant Sakuma had different perceptions,” Miyoshi reckoned slyly. “In spite of that, both men may be similar in hanging on to nonsensical beliefs.”

“Nonsensical you might call it, however judging from your behavior towards these people considered ‘victims of tautology’,” Yuuki paused, hand reaching for an abandoned cigarette box on the table. He took out one, smile curling cynically. “You are _curious_.”

Miyoshi was pretty sure he had just been pushed into the abyss of Hell by the Demon King himself (such irony). Did the lieutenant colonel came all the way here just to shame him?

Too tired to care about being prideful, he instead snorted at Yuuki’s declaration. “Assuming ‘curious’ is our word of choice here, then perhaps yes, I am.” He continued without waiting for a respond, “do you think there are men who were born to be spies?”

The older spy had his cigarette lit already, and released a puff of smoke before speaking. “'Some men were born to be spies, because some men were born to be spies’. Your thoughts on this sentence, Miyoshi?”

“It’s… meaningless, I dare say. All the while still not losing it’s basic meaning.”

The man in front of him nodded. “And what about this one: ‘Some men were born to be spies, because spies were expected to be reborn as some men’.”

“Circular reference,” commented the younger man, as Yuuki took another drag in peace. The art of endless loop, delivering a speech while giving no reasoning; Yuuki had cheated. Whether the spymaster was avoiding the question or not, he obviously wanted Miyoshi to be satisfied with his current answer. Miyoshi couldn’t not be though, now that the sentence had logical meaning, not even paradoxical.

So moving on to his next question Miyoshi did. “If that is so, then doesn’t that mean some men were fated since their birth only to find pitch black solitude at last?”

A train suddenly passed a few blocks nearby, shaking the whole building during the recurring silence. Likely the last train of the day. If you were an insomniac, you’d find it normal to unconsciously memorize late-trains schedule, too. Train schedules are stagnant–Neither a delay, nor an accident had occured before.

Yuuki broke the silence after a while. Neon lights from the nightlife down the street partly illuminated his face. “Have you ever heard of Odyesseus?”

Miyoshi tried to recall, tipping the butt of his cancer stick to an ashtray while doing so. “An epic poem attributed to Homer. Heroic Greek story?”

“Odyesseus is an Ithacan king. He appears in the epic Illiad, but he shines mostly in it’s sequel, Odyessey, which depicts his journey back home after the Trojan War,” Lieutenant Colonel Yuuki explained, his gaze fell far outside. “Odyesseus is described as an intelligent and cunning man, albeit slightly arrogant. But the important part is; during his homecoming, he keeps himself undercover to prove loyalty of the Ithacans while being presumed dead. In reality, he is thwarted from home by the Gods he has angered and helped by the Gods he sides with. As you can see, these ‘Gods’ are inconstant and unpredictable concepts.” He looked straight at Miyoshi, checking if his subordinate had received his message.

_The military’s obsession with heroism and sacrifices..._

Meanwhile Miyoshi’s face turned into a blank mask as he sank waist-deep in thoughts. “…the Gods, are beliefs,” he murmured finally. “People believe that their belief is what will save them from the ‘endings’ they refuse to go through. However a fated death is a fated death, not even the Gods can change it. ” He turned to Yuuki, questioning, “how does Odyesseus’ story end?”

Yuuki smirked, looking amused. “His skills deliver him safe back home. His story ends at this point.”

“Hn. Summarized, none of the concepts would help a man when he is in complete isolation,” Miyoshi contemplated then added, “not even the ‘don’t die, don’t kill’.”

The Demon King closed his eyes. “Not even the ‘don’t die, don’t kill’. Satirical.”

Another set of silence followed Yuuki’s words. It was very much understandable, because the way Yuuki delivered the sentence was equal to stating; You may have to kill. You may die.

Miyoshi laid far backward in his chair, staring into emptiness. His left hand twiddles mindlessly with a cigarette. Yuuki secretly hoped the young narcisstic spy didn’t regret his choice signing up to the D Agency. No, of course he did not. Miyoshi was full of pride. And capabilities. Which made him kind of resembled Yuuki in that sense, a formidable yet undetected existence. Yuuki would never betray his own words, thus so would Miyoshi.

They stayed in silence like that for a bit longer. Awkward silence tends to occur more frequently between two lethal spies, it turned out.

All of a sudden, Miyoshi’s red lips twitched into a smirk, then unexpectedly the smile melted into a truer one. “I see. I’m afraid I’d have to excuse myself now, it is getting late,” he stood up politely and walked towards the doorframe, but stopping abruptly before he step outside to face his boss one last time. “By the way, in case you’re not aware of it–Odyesseus has a lot in common with you, Yuuki-san.”

Upon hearing Miyoshi’s remark, the Demon King rearranged the grip on his cane. He raised an eyebrow, bemused. “Oh. That is a humorous analogy. If you happen to be fond of Odyesseus, I suggest you to do some research about Hamlet as well.”

“A popular tragedy,” the young man lightly chuckled as he stepped away. “We’ll see…”

**Author's Note:**

> This is supposed to be dark but it ends up complicated and weird wwww Please also take note that this is very much unbeta-ed.  
> I hope I did the example of 'circular reference' right? Sorry in advance XD  
> Anyway, I foreshadowed 'a certain spy's death' a little in this fic, can you spot them?


End file.
